On April 25, 1852, 115 representatives of fifteen
New Orleans printing
offices assembled at Commercial Exchange Hall “to consider “such measures as
would promote the interests and general welfare of the printers of the city of New Orleans.”A constitution for the fledgling organization
was drafted quickly, and on May
2, 1852, the New Orleans Typographical Union was launched.Its purposes were “the maintenance of a fair
rate of wages, the encouragement of good workmen, the relief of members, and to
use every means which may tend to the elevation of Printers in the social scale
of life.”This statement of purpose was
later amended to read, “The objects of this Union
shall be the maintenance of a fair rate of wages; the encouragement of a
thorough apprenticeship system as the best means of making good workmen; the
relief and burial of members, and the elevation of members of the craft in the
social scale of life.”Gerard Stith (d. 1880), then foreman of the composing room of the
New Orleans Daily Picayune and later mayor of New Orleans, served as the
union's first president.The organiza­tion
was incorporated as on May
30, 1853.

Over the years, the New Orleans
Typographical Union withstood the ravages of yellow fever, the vagaries of war
and politics, the local introduction of the linotype machine in 1891, and other
obstacles as it strove to ensure equitable wages and fair treatment for its
members.The oldest trade union in New Orleans, it is affiliated
with the International Typographical Union, the Louisiana AFL-CIO, and the
Greater New Orleans AFL-CIO council.

96-1Constitution,
Bylaws, General Laws and Convention Laws of the International Typographical Union and the Union Printers Home.Effective January 1, 1976.Colorado
Springs, Colo.:
International Typographical Union, 1976.

96-25Miscellaneous
lists of members and their positions, prospective members, and chapel priority
lists, 1958-1967

Saltarrelli file

96-26Correspondence
to and from Joseph A. Saltarrelli as president of New
Orleans Typographical Union No. 17 for sixteen years preceding his death in
1968; miscellaneous sample copies of publications and forms, 1959-1967

Stock
certificates

96-271915

National
Convention reports

96-36Reports
of local delegates to national conventions of the International Typographical
Union, 1941-1955

Woerler visits

96-43Materials
pertaining to visits of Charles Franz Woerler,
general secretary of the International Graphical Federation, Bern, Switzerland;
includes dossier and photograph, 1962

Miscellaneous
ephemera

96-44Includes
photocopies of two petitions and an invitation to a spaghetti dinner sponsored
by the Item-Tribune composing room, and a flyer pertaining to collective
bargaining, 1933-1940.

Series VI.Old
Age and Death Benefits

Tomb
register, 1852-1943

96-28Names
of persons buried in the organization's tomb; includes names of Tomb Committee
members, 1904-1913, 1934-1935

96-34An
Act to provide for the reporting and disclosure of certain financial
transactions and administrative practices of labor organizations and employers,
to prevent abuses in the administration of trusteeships by labor organizations,
to provide standards with respect to the election of officers of labor
organizations, and for other purposes.[Washing­ton:
U.S.
Government Printing Office, 1959].(2
copies)

Constitution,
Bylaws, General Laws and Convention Laws of the International Typographical Union and the Union Printers Home.Effective January 1, 1959.Colorado
Springs, Colo.:
International Typographical Union, 1959.